September 17 in Medical History
13 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Events
- Bacteria DiscoveredDutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria
- Pope Visits San FranciscoPope John Paul II arrives in San Francisco, meets with AIDS patients, and embraces an AIDS-infected child
- Baseball Returns with PoetryDespite suffering from lung cancer and Parkinson's disease, Jack Buck stirs emotions by reading a patriotic-themed poem during the pregame ceremonies on baseball's first night back after the September 11th terrorist attacks
- 50 girls treated in hospital in Kaya, Burkina Faso after illegal botched circumcisions
- Needles purposely hidden in strawberries in Australia prompt government to order an investigation
Born on this day
- Stephen HalesEnglish physiologist, chemist and inventor (first person to measure blood pressure), born in Bekesbourne, Kent, England (d. 1761)
- William Carlos WilliamsAmerican physician and poet, born in Rutherford, New Jersey (d. 1963)
- Lena Frances EdwardsAfrican-American physician, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (died 1986)
- Edgar WayburnAmerican environmentalist awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom 1999, born in Macon, Georgia (d. 2010)
- Naomi DattaBritish geneticist and bacteriologist (pioneer in investigating the development of resistance to antibiotics by bacteria), born in London (d. 2008)
- Donald AchesonIrish physician and Chief Medical Officer for England (1983-90), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland (d. 2010)
Died on this day
- Tobias SmollettScottish novelist, surgeon and critic (The Adventures of Roderick Random), dies at 50
- Alexander BerryScottish surgeon and adventurer (established the first European settlement on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia), dies at 91